Denial
by corefourlove
Summary: Kono house sits for Steve while he is away. He comes home to find his house a disaster. Established relationship.


_Disclaimer: I do not own anyone/anything you recognize._

_A/N: This story is my take on what would have happened if Kono had been the one to house sit for Steve instead of Danny during episode 17 of season two. Hope you enjoy!_

_This is dedicated to the lovely and talented Tiana-P. Thank you for being an awesome beta/friend/mentor!_

* * *

Steve walked toward his house in a wonderful mood. Having being gone to serve his Navy Reserve drill, he was excited to see his girlfriend, who had been house sitting for him for the weekend.

As he approached his front door, he heard the smoke alarm beeping. Driven by panic, he hurriedly turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. His eyes widened as his jaw hung open, appalled at the sight of smoke coming from the kitchen. As he looked around for Kono, he noticed her belongings scattered messily all over the living room. He looked back toward the smoke-filled kitchen where he saw her come out, coughing and waving away the smoke with a dish towel.

"Baby, you're home early," she said in a surprised tone.

Still in shock, he dropped his duffel onto the floor. "What the hell is going on?" He grabbed the fire extinguisher and jolted to the kitchen.

"No, no, no, no, no! Steve, _don't!_" she begged as she followed him hastily. Ignoring her pleas, he extinguished the flames coming from the now burnt frittata on the pan.

"Great, you killed my frittata," she whined.

"I put it out of its misery," he said flatly.

After placing the extinguisher on the countertop, he opened the kitchen window to let the lingering smoke out. "I was just about to do that," she deadpanned.

Rolling his eyes, he shut off the detector and walked back into the living room, her following suit.

She noticed him looking confusingly around the room, with an "aneurysm face" as Danny liked to call it. "Why do you have that face?"

"What happened to my house?"

She looked around and realized the mess she had made. "Oh, _this__?_ This is going to be cleaned."

Before he could protest even more, he heard a bark coming from upstairs. She bit her lip and scrunched up her face. _Crap._

He looked at her in disbelief. "The dog's here?"

He _hated_ it when she'd bring her dog over.

"Yeah," she said hesitantly. "I couldn't just leave her at my house."

His facial expression worsened. "You let the dog sleep in my bed?"

"She doesn't like sleeping alone, you know that," she responded innocently.

He just looked at her, dumbfounded. She decided to change the subject. "How was your drill?"

He was beginning to lose his patience. "Kono..."

Keeping her cool, she calmly defended herself. "You know, I was just trying to do something nice for you by cooking you food for when you got home, but instead of appreciating my effort, you find things to get mad about."

He stifled a giggle. "Cleaning up after yourself would've been nice enough."

Her jaw dropped, offended. "Hey, I have a very intricate pile system going here. And I _can_ cook, thank you very much."

He continued to look at her, unimpressed. "You have a 'pile system'? Do me a favor and remind me of your 'pile system' the next time I ask you to house sit for me." His voice then became flat. "And you can't cook to save your life."

"Shut up. It's not _that_ bad," she said exasperatedly.

"_Not that bad?_ Kono, I can't even see the couch!"

She shook her head steadily. "You have _serious_ OCD problems."

Taken aback, he said, "I do _not_ have OCD."

"You _totally_ have OCD."

Still unamused, he challenged her. "Okay, _how_ do I have OCD?"

She scoffed. "Let's see," she began in an annoyed tone. "You freak out if something is out of place."

_Big fucking deal. _"I prefer knowing where my things are. How is that OCD?"

"You won't let me watch TV a _second_ past midnight."

_Again, big fucking deal. _"I like to be in bed at a decent time during the week."

"You take showers no more than three minutes."

He smirked seductively. "Now, that's not true. I shower longer when you're with me."

She rolled her eyes and sighed. _Of course he'd say that._ "Alright, fine, I'll give you that one."

He huffed. "Look, I don't have OCD, okay? I have just been accustomed to doing things a certain way."

The side of her lips pulled up into a sweet smile. "Steve, that's the same thing."

"No, it's not."

She raised her eyebrows, amusement shining in her eyes. _Seriously?_

His face suddenly fell blank.

_I just proved her right._

_Damn it._

Without admitting defeat, he sighed deeply. She just smiled as she pulled him into her arms. "I'm sorry," she began to apologize as she kissed his lips lightly. "I didn't mean to get you all riled up."

He hated losing an argument, but he couldn't help giving in to her. "It's fine," he said bitterly.

As he walked toward the staircase, she suddenly grabbed his hand and yanked him back into her arms. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go change my sheets. You should help me," he suggested sarcastically. He was obviously still upset. Smiling a dimpled smile, she cupped his face and planted another feather light kiss on his lips. "How can I make it up to you?"

"You can change my sheets," he requested, nodding his head toward his bedroom. "And clean your mess up." Before he turned back to the stairs, he caught a look in her eyes. Her brown eyes were suddenly dark and filled with desire as she scanned his body.

"What?" he asked skeptically.

"Well, the sheets are already dirty," she said as she began to unbutton his NWU blouse. "We might as well make it _dirtier__._" She smiled slyly as she tugged onto the hem of his pants.

"God, I love you," he growled lowly before lifting her up and carrying her up to his bedroom.

Just like that, he had forgotten why he had been upset.


End file.
